Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3e97b85fc05f4d9c…

MALICIOUS

PDF

147.5 KB Created: 2010-03-08 16:47:58 +08:00 First seen: 2026-05-11
MD5: e5ca1d4c493b209cf12a34baa0ce983e SHA-1: 2ba16a88ae0fc5eb56ce88d7527422d8047ef90a SHA-256: 3e97b85fc05f4d9c40ab2045dc5a318051b6e798999bf8f5b2935a78892eb6ab
386 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.007 JavaScript

This PDF file contains XFA JavaScript that triggers a heap spray exploit, specifically targeting CVE-2010-0188 and related vulnerabilities (CVE-2009-1492 family). The JavaScript is designed to download and execute a second-stage payload. The presence of NOP sleds in embedded images further indicates shellcode execution.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.7316

Heuristics 13

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains the CVE-2010-0188 exploit template: XFA JavaScript heap-spray setup, a generated TIFF image payload, and assignment of that TIFF data to an XFA image field rawValue to trigger Adobe Reader's LibTIFF parser.
  • JavaScript action low 3 related findings PDF_JAVASCRIPT
    PDF contains a /JavaScript action. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules. (matched inside decoded stream)
  • Adobe Reader JavaScript heap-spray exploit (known CVE family) critical CVE related PDF_JS_KNOWN_CVE_HEAPSPRAY_FAMILY
    PDF JavaScript combines heap-spray staging (NOP-sled / shellcode nybble sled or a multi-kilobyte setTimeOut/setInterval launcher) with the removed Adobe Reader sink getAnnots, associated with CVE-2009-1492. Benign documents never pair heap-spray with these long-removed APIs. The exact malformed argument is assembled at run time, so this attributes the exploit to a known pre-2011 Reader CVE family rather than the exact primitive.
  • PDF JavaScript exploit cluster critical PDF_JS_EXPLOIT_CLUSTER
    PDF combines an executable JavaScript/action surface with exploit staging indicators such as eval/unescape/fromCharCode, XFA script content, or a related CVE pattern. Benign form JavaScript remains low-severity, but this correlated cluster is high-confidence malicious behavior.
  • Embedded JS stream low PDF_JS
    PDF references a /JS stream. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules. (matched inside decoded stream)
  • Flate image XObject contains x86 NOP sled high CVE related PDF_FLATE_IMAGE_NOP_SLED
    PDF embeds a FlateDecode image XObject whose decoded bytes are dominated by x86 NOP instructions, alongside form or embedded-file delivery structures. This is exploit payload staging evidence and is related to Adobe Reader parser-exploit families, but it is not a unique CVE fingerprint by itself.
  • XFA JavaScript heap-spray exploit code critical PDF_XFA_HEAP_SPRAY
    PDF contains XFA script content with heap-spray or shellcode-like JavaScript markers such as large encoded word sequences, util.pack, large arrays, or spray variable names. This is a weaponised Adobe Reader exploit pattern, not a normal interactive form.
  • Image-only document with action trigger (screenshot lure) medium PDF_IMAGE_LURE
    PDF has 2 image(s), only 1 text block(s), carries a click-outward action, and is only 147 KB — typical shape of a phishing lure where a full-page screenshot hides a clickable button that launches or submits to an attacker URL.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • Embedded file low PDF_EMBEDDED
    PDF embeds a file attachment — could carry an executable or another weaponised document as a nested payload
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic (matched inside decoded stream)
  • Embedded script payload in PDF stream info PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an HTML/XFA <script> tag without accompanying Windows shell-execution primitives — common in accessible XFA forms but worth surfacing for analyst review.
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In PDF document text
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/In PDF document text
    • http://cgi.adobe.com/special/acrobat/updateReferenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xdp/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xci/1.0/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.4/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-locale-set/2.7/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-locale-set/2.1/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-form/2.8/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xtd/In PDF document text
🗂 Part of campaign: shared payload 964b35fd2c 29 samples

Extracted artifacts 12

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_file_obj0002.bin pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 2 at offset 0x1504 85 bytes
SHA-256: c06dcd026a7ea0536b63e07ce688691b585339a3ab7ff59065e546b56308c7bb
embedded_file_obj0006.bin pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 6 at offset 0x2593 2928 bytes
SHA-256: 226eeacc5eecef2a05ca480f144ff6936594e20b5c7672e8f29f25c8bea65a56
embedded_file_obj0007.bin pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 7 at offset 0x28FF 200 bytes
SHA-256: 4cb349134bdb5f1a1c03281df9b53128ebe947f235398a912a4f0a9f638b24d5
embedded_file_obj0008.bin pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 8 at offset 0x29F1 835 bytes
SHA-256: d51b9fc28b592405fb598e711d1495e1421571073bc2e8542d55389768716c06
embedded_file_obj0009.bin pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 9 at offset 0x2BC9 291 bytes
SHA-256: e65f1e07bc965092b3153e64a1e8777a909cc47a98c0e2a10d38c47def2e6652
xfa_image_rawvalue_000.tif pdf-xfa-image-tiff XFA image/rawValue TIFF payload near offset 0x245B 8538 bytes
SHA-256: 671a354149e0ee431b9ab639739547a82c1110f751869622d000c6e04bf7d45f
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Static shellcode analysis found candidate code region(s). Indicators: NOP sled, heap spray 0x0C
stream_002_off000003c9.js decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x3C9 1532 bytes
SHA-256: f574e4d51594d1a8fd22e125b109b827c437aa898edc78babb62dbb93f8744f8
stream_003_off000005b3.js decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x5B3 870 bytes
SHA-256: 4a1aca004cf20431c9a66dce85404a6411a54d881a6c257882260ffc972a13eb
stream_012_off000015a1.bin decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x15A1 1431 bytes
SHA-256: feb00b1700e632495d1d5b008f99d161a74a24724f2ef8c687930351e0db2aa5
stream_013_off0000183f.js decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x183F 9163 bytes
SHA-256: 964b35fd2cf89dd55c1ec763fabaa19e720fcce510e60402ad1e45eecd2754e0
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 long base64-like blob(s).
stream_014_off000023ce.bin decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x23CE 11731 bytes
SHA-256: 5a53ad6000bf93ffaf08568dac26565e328390d583d17501efbfb1fd2c3ee15d
objstm_0057_00.bin pdf-objstm-decoded PDF /ObjStm 57 0 obj (inflated) 2437 bytes
SHA-256: 4dd388119e0638cb31f62fa2a8ca84b64569e773a95dc748d92842629bc88436